Spider-Man’s Big Adventure (Part 1)

In the end, the ones who actually taught Peter how to drive were Matt and his girlfriend, Elektra.

Matt’s severe injury last time had helped him and Elektra clear up their misunderstanding and get back together.

Of course, after breaking free of The Hand’s brainwashing, Elektra also realized that she had been too impulsive back then. Peter had wanted to protect Matt, and she felt somewhat sorry for stabbing Peter at the time. So when she learned from Matt about Peter’s rather unsuccessful driving lessons, she and Matt voluntarily took on the task of helping Peter practice.

To be fair, Elektra was indeed far more reliable than the others. Although she was also a ninja assassin, she was quite patient when it came to teaching.

That day, Peter was trying to drive on his own while Elektra and Matt sat in the car, discussing Kingpin.

"One day, I’m definitely going to make him pay!" Peter said. "He actually used such underhanded methods against you."

"Don’t act rashly. My grudge with Kingpin is complicated, and he’s the most famous crime boss in America. You can’t handle him yet."

"What about that guy called Bullseye? Isn’t he still in Hell’s Kitchen? I’ll go beat him up tonight," Peter said.

Elektra said, "The situation isn’t good right now. After Kingpin learned about the Dragon Bones, he didn’t immediately move against The Hand. They seem to have reached some kind of agreement. Worst of all, Kingpin may have hired The Hand."

"That doesn’t make sense. The Hand cares so much about the Dragon Bones. If they knew Kingpin wanted them too, they’d definitely turn on him at the last moment. Doesn’t Kingpin know that?"

"That’s the worst part. Even knowing that The Hand can’t possibly cooperate with him sincerely, much less hand over the Dragon Bones, he’s still willing to hire them. That means there must be something we don’t know about—something that makes Kingpin willing to risk The Hand betraying him."

"Does he have some major business deal going on lately?"

Elektra’s expression turned grim. "If I had to name one, you should know about it too. His drug business."

"You mean that plan he abandoned before?"

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked as he gripped the steering wheel. He couldn’t understand the riddles Matt and Elektra were speaking in. At this point, Spider-Man had yet to cross paths with Kingpin; Daredevil Matt was still the one mainly fighting Kingpin.

"Kingpin’s drug business on the East Coast has reached a bottleneck. He’s seized most of the market already, but he isn’t satisfied."

"I once received intelligence that Kingpin wanted to target younger students. He planned to use the people he had recruited in universities and high schools to sell potentially addictive drugs to younger children. That way, one day, he could surpass his previous sales records."

Peter slammed his fist against the steering wheel and muttered a curse. Then he said, "Ever since I decided to become a hero, people have kept pushing the limits of what I thought was possible. Why don’t they have even a shred of humanity?"

"You’ll encounter more monsters like that in the future," Matt said.

The calmness in his voice made Peter feel a kind of strength.

The car turned off the main road and onto a street. It was getting late, so Peter planned to drive Matt’s car back first and continue practicing the next day.

But just as they turned the corner, a burst of bright light flashed toward them. Peter instinctively covered his eyes, then his Spider-Sense tingled. He immediately opened the door and jumped out.

Bang! Several darts tore through the windshield and struck the driver’s and passenger’s seats.

Peter looked up and saw several dark figures leap down from nearby high-rises. Amid clouds of black smoke, they closed in on the car in a few flickers.

After training for a while, Peter was no longer a complete hothead. He rolled across the ground to dodge a volley of darts, then sprang up and rammed a ninja who had landed on the roof of the car straight off it.

He was incredibly strong. The ninja turned into a cloud of smoke and vanished instantly.

Then another ninja yanked open the car door, only to find it empty. A dagger flashed coldly, and Elektra appeared beside the car. She took down one ninja first, then swung her hand back, sending several darts flying and driving off another.

Matt was no longer in the car either. His five senses were far beyond those of ordinary people; he had heard the attack while the darts were still in flight. He took down a ninja at the rear of the car, then approached with his cane in hand. "These guys are really troublesome. Last time, we only managed to take down one. This time, they all got away again."

Peter shook his slightly numb wrist. "What’s going on? Have they been attacking you lately?"

"Elektra and I moved because these pests kept harassing us at our old place."

"I’m sorry. I’ve been a little busy lately, so I haven’t visited you. If I’d known you were in trouble, I should’ve come over."

"It’s better if you don’t. These people can’t be dealt with through brute force alone. Even Elektra and I have to set traps if we want to take one down. In an encounter like this, they just disappear."

"You can’t deal with ninja escape techniques. You need special methods to counter them." Elektra was still holding her dagger as she got back into the car.

"Are we still driving? What if they come back?"

"Didn’t you notice? They weren’t here to kill us. They were only here to harass us."

Peter got back into the car too. This time, Elektra drove. Peter said, "Then what’s the point? They can’t even hurt you…"

"We may not be afraid of them, but my neighbors might be. They know that, in order to protect ordinary people, I have no choice but to move frequently. That greatly interferes with my efforts to strike at their operations."

Elektra continued from where Matt left off. "It’s one of The Hand’s old tricks. Whoever opposes them gets harassed nonstop by these immortal ninjas until they completely leave the area."

"These ninjas aren’t very strong offensively, they rarely kill people, and they appear and disappear without a trace, leaving no evidence behind. That’s why the authorities have almost no reason to act against them."

"That’s where Kingpin is clever. He uses The Hand’s ninjas to harass me, keeping me from interfering with his business expansion for the time being. He knows that even if he tried to kill me outright, he couldn’t get rid of me anytime soon and would only invite harsher retaliation. But this fly-like harassment can slow me down tremendously."

As Elektra turned the steering wheel, she said, "Perhaps that’s one reason he chose to work with The Hand. Your previous actions caused him too many losses. Even though Bullseye almost succeeded, you showed up again soon afterward and shut down several more of his underground casinos even faster."

"He already knows that constantly harassing you is a better choice than hiring assassins to kill you and failing every time."

Matt sighed. He was also rather helpless in the face of the current situation.

Those ninjas were incredibly annoying. They could slow their heartbeats enough that Matt couldn’t immediately pinpoint their locations. Every few days, they would show up at his home, either throwing darts or setting fires and causing all kinds of trouble. The landlord didn’t care whether Matt was being harassed; they would only evict him.

As a lawyer, Matt originally had a decent apartment in Manhattan. His little place in Hell’s Kitchen was merely a base of operations. But those ninjas kept coming to cause trouble, forcing him to move again and again, which truly consumed a great deal of his energy.

Daredevil only had twenty-four hours in a day. He had originally sacrificed sleep to fight crime, but now he had to draft legal briefs and attend hearings during the day, then move and organize his belongings at night. He only had a short while after midnight to patrol. Not only had his efficiency fallen drastically, but his energy was beginning to fail him as well.

Kingpin had perfectly seized on Daredevil’s weakness: Matt was still a member of society. When faced with this kind of trouble, he had to spend a great deal of time maintaining his civilian identity.

Elektra had plenty of troubles of her own. The Hand showed no mercy to traitors, and because she had been gone too long without reporting back, Kingpin had grown suspicious as well. Bullseye was constantly looking for chances to kill her and reclaim his position.

Peter said, "Even if I can’t help you deal with these ninjas, at least I can go cause trouble for that Bullseye first."

"You need to be careful," Elektra said. "Bullseye isn’t ordinary either. He’s a master acrobat with formidable fighting skills, and he’s full of tricks."

"Perfect. I haven’t fought any decent opponents yet."

"Didn’t that wealthy Stark make you a suit? If you want to deal with Bullseye, you’d better wear it at all times. He’s very good with concealed weapons, but if they can’t pierce your suit, he’ll be much easier to handle."

"The suit is still being tested. Mr. Stark called me yesterday and told me to come to the tower. It’ll probably be finished within a few days."

As they spoke, the car reached the street near Matt’s residence. They got out, and Matt said, "You’d better think this through. Once you make a move against Bullseye, you’ll inevitably enter Kingpin’s sights."

"The struggle against Kingpin is a true fight to the death. It’s nothing like beating up a few robbers or thieves in Hell’s Kitchen."

"He’ll use every cruel method you can imagine—and every one you can’t—to kill you. He may become the nightmare of your entire life. No matter where you go, you’ll have to guard against his assassinations at all times, just like me."

Peter stood on the other side of the car, looking at Matt. The streetlights had all gone out, and only the car windows faintly reflected the lights from the apartment buildings.

Peter asked him, "Then do you regret it? When you were lying on that operating table, did you regret getting involved in all of this?"

"If I hadn’t gotten involved, I’d probably be in some upscale apartment downtown right now, preparing for a case that was going to trial the next day. Maybe I’d be thinking about when to discuss getting engaged with my girlfriend. Maybe I’d even be wondering whether I should get a dog…"

Elektra said, "But now you’re like a rat crossing the street. Forget getting a dog—if you kept a tropical fish, its corpse would be outside your bedroom door the next day."

"When I chose to get involved in all this, I didn’t think it through at all. What did you think happened? That I spent a year thinking about it before taking action?"

"The truth is, I plunged headfirst into this bottomless Abyss, fueled by nothing but hatred and passion," Matt said.

"Although I truly hope you become a superhero, because someone with your abilities can save many people, and that’s why I’m willing to teach you."

"But I’m not trying to deceive you. I have to remind you that opposing Kingpin means there’s no turning back."

"You must be both righteous and strong. If you lack either one, there’s only a dead end waiting for you."

Thank you to this book’s new Alliance Leader, "Gongzi Qianji"!!!

Thank you, boss, for the 100,000-point donation!!

This is an extra free chapter. Please enjoy!

There will be another extra chapter after release. I owe so many, 555.